Those deep discounts luring people from their post-turkey football-watching are not real.
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal explains how retailers and the manufacturers that supply them jack up the prices and then mark them down.
Reporter Suzanne Kapner explains how the so-called discounts are carefully calibrated. You may think you're getting that appliance at half-price or that sweater for 60 percent off, but in reality you're getting it at exactly the price that store officials target to bring in their desired profits.
It wasn't always that way, the Wall Street Journal said. Originally, deep discounts were placed on items that weren't selling, to make room for new inventory.
But now it's all a carefully calibrated campaign to lure customers in with the illusion of a bargain.
Sometimes the items are even marked up just before Thanksgiving so they can be marked down on Black Friday, the WSJ reported:
"In an analysis for The Wall Street Journal, price-tracking firm Market Track LLC looked at the online price fluctuations of 1,743 products in November 2012. Prices climbed an average of 8% in the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving for 366, or about a fifth, of the products; the items were then discounted on Black Friday. Toys and tools had the biggest pre-Black Friday price increases—about 23%."
The Wall Street Journal said there are a few consumer lawsuits against retailers including J.C. Penney and Kohls—by people who bought items marked as deeply discounted from a retail price, and then found out later that the discount price was the usual price.
But most shoppers apparently prefer the deception—retailers who have tried to abandon the fake discount system have seen revenues drop.
Do you get excited at the scent of a bargain? Do you care that it's not real? Tell us in the comments!
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